Chapter 472

The Prison Planet

...”I don’t give a shit what that thing says, someone or some thing is watching us. It gives me the creeps just standing here, and yeah, the feeling is a hell of a lot stronger than last time.”

Jasmine stood staring at him for several seconds. It’s not like Morales to get rattled. When he and I were attacked by the snow leopard, his response was instantaneous and accurate. Even afterward, his voice didn’t show any stress and his hands were steady while I was shaking like a leaf. But there’s nothing in here, so why...

Looking up at him, she smiled, but his eyes were focused in the distance and he didn’t notice. While she contemplated, another idea surfaced. Hmmmm, I wonder if your senses have become more acute because of your interactions with the wolves. I felt a slight discomfort last time, and now that you’ve mentioned it, I want to look over my shoulder to see who or what is watching us, but you’re obviously bothered quite a bit more than I am. So why are we bothered at all? And now that I’m thinking about it, the feeling seems to have increased even more. Am I really feeling something, or is it the power of suggestion, since you are so certain we’re being watched? But darnit, I trust my instruments. There is nothing in here other than us – nothing. On its most sensitive setting, the heat sensor could detect a fly in here. It’s far too sensitive to allow something or someone to be near without it registering. But ... if there isn’t anything in here, then why do both of us feel like there is? It’s not that we aren’t used to being in a cave. I’ve worked in them many times and Morales lives in one. The whole thing doesn’t make sense.

As she knelt by her case to return the heat sensor, Morales, on edge, said, “If I had a shotgun, I would fire off a few rounds to let whatever is in here know we mean business.”

Jasmine paused to look up at him. “Honey, there isn’t anything here. There’s nothing on Earth that could hide from my heat sensor in this enclosed space – nothing – particularly with it being this cold. A living body would stand out like a bonfire to the sensor.”

“Yeah,” he growled, “but we’re not on Earth, and not all living things are warm blooded, either. What about snakes and things like that?”

The part about them not being on Earth gave her pause, but she responded with, “Warm or cold blooded, it would still register as a temperature change, no matter how slight, and would show up.” With a sigh, she continued, “I didn’t come prepared to examine something like this and consequently don’t have the proper equipment, or the training, for that matter. But I dare not ask for more equipment or assistance. But, as I said, the heat sensor is capable of detecting the slightest shift in temperature over a large enclosed area. There isn’t a living thing in here other than us.”

“Yeah, maybe...” Morales begrudgingly responded, doubt blatantly evident in his voice.

Turning away, although her first impulse was to reassure him with a kiss and a hug, she said, “Let’s get started. I want to see how far this column field extends. Maybe we’ll find something that will give us a clue as to what all these things do,” she finished, sweeping her arm out to indicate the crystal-clear columns.

Morales was shaking his head. “Not just yet. I need to get the end of my fishing line tied off, check to make sure the reel is working properly, and attach our safety line to each of us. Remember, Young Lady, when we were leaving last time, you were going to head in the wrong direction. And with this feeling I have, I am not going to take the slightest chance. We will go slowly and cautiously. I respect your knowledge and equipment, but there is something or someone watching us. I keep wanting to look behind me and expect to see something sneaking up on me. My goosebumps have goosebumps and my neck feels like there are a couple of squirrels using it for a racetrack. I wasn’t this nervous when I was being stalked by one of the big cats.”

She wanted to tease him, but one look at his face and she knew he was dead serious and certainly not in the mood to be teased about his worries.

When he had the big reel attached to the back of his belt, the end of the line looped around and securely tied to a column near the entrance crack, he double-checked to make sure he had the extra spool of fishing line.

“Turn around,” he ordered. When she complied, he secured a section of paracord to her belt and the other end to his, giving them about twenty feet of maneuvering room. With a full roll of the paracord around his shoulder, should they need to be tied off to something, and his crossbow ready to hand, he nodded to his companion. “Ready whenever you are, but remember to watch around us and not focus totally on just your instruments.”

It would have been simpler if we had left our weapons back at the main entrance, she thought, but it only took a glance at Morales’ face as his eyes searched the distance with his light to reaffirm that the idea would never have flown.

When his eyes shifted back to her, “Unless you have a reason to do otherwise, I suggest we head directly away from the crack, perpendicular to the wall here, and try to stay on a straight course unless there is a good reason to divert. That will make the return trip a lot easier, particularly if this place turns out to be really big.”

While she had been waiting for him to be ready, Jasmine had begun to wonder if he was right about being watched, because she had become more aware of the uneasiness. At first, she had thought that the area would turn out to be only a couple of hundred yards across, but the laser range finder on her binoculars gave erratic and drastically changing distances, some of them totally ridiculous. With the flashlight function of her lantern on, she hoped to be able to bounce a beam of light off the distant wall and get some idea of how big the cavern was – if, indeed, it was a cavern.

Her light was reflected back, but oddly somehow. After detecting what appeared to be a path between the columns, she held the beam as steady as she could, but somehow, there appeared to be a slight hesitation before she saw the flash of reflected light, and just a flash. She directed the beam to the area over and over, but always there was a hesitation before she saw the sparkle of reflection from the intense beam. Shaking her head, she repeated the maneuver, trying her best to hold the light steady, but with the same result. Why the hesitation before the reflection? she wondered. That just can’t be. It has to be something I’m doing. Propping her arm against one of the columns, she tried again – then again – with the same result. I must not be holding the lantern steady enough, but eventually I hit just the right spot and get the reflection, but, darnit, it seems to take roughly the same amount of time each time I try. Frustrated, she tried again and again at different areas in the distance, but no matter what she did, there was the hesitation before the returning flash of reflection – and only a flash. No matter how steadily I hold the flashlight, there is only a flash of reflection, not a continuous beam of light reflected back.

When they had worked their way through the crack in the thick wall the first time, it had only taken a glance to get the feeling that the area wasn’t natural, but she had put that thought in the back of her mind and tried to use the scientific method to evaluate the column area; now, that was proving easier said than done. Oh, there were observations aplenty that she had carefully noted on her laptop after the original visit, and she would add more when this visit was over. Unfortunately, far too many of her observations made little sense. Questions. She had plenty, most of which she had trouble even putting into any logical order. Hypothesis. She didn’t have enough information for a logical hypothesis yet. So far, that area on her assessment document was sitting blank. Experiment. No hypothesis to develop a regimen of experiments to prove or disprove the hypothesis. She had conducted several types of preliminary measurements, most of which produced readings that made no sense, which in turn made her wonder if her equipment was working properly. In lieu of that, she ran self-diagnostic checks on everything, but each piece of equipment, at least according to its diagnostics, was working properly.

Upon first seeing the columns, she had tried to convince herself that they were somehow a natural phenomenon, but that idea had died a quick death, although she hadn’t told Morales at that point. Even if there had been only one of the columns, it was too perfect and too uniform to have been constructed by nature.

“What about a compass? Is there one on your binoculars?”

“Yes,” she quietly responded.

“Then, I suggest you use it so we stay on a straight line.”

But she was shaking her head. “It’s all over the place...”

“Spinning?” he injected.

For some reason, she hadn’t wanted to tell him about the compass. “No. Well, not exactly. It just bounces from one direction to another with no discernable pattern,” she added.

“Let me see.”

He brought the binoculars to his eyes, at first holding steady in a direction along a path perpendicular to the wall, then after some time, changed to check in several different directions.

Finally, he handed the binoculars back to her. “That’s... weird,” he replied with an odd look on his face. “But you’re right. The compass seems to lock in one direction, claiming it’s north, then after a couple of seconds, jumps to another direction and locks there for a second or two, before moving again. Shit, that’s weird,” he repeated.

After a short discussion as they tried to come up with a reason for the compass’ actions, they began cautiously making their way along, but Jasmine’s mind continued to worry the problem. They had, indeed, found evidence of ancient civilizations on the opposite side of the planet, but no one had found evidence that would indicate anything of that nature on this continent. Everything found there indicated a Stone Age society, and seemingly nothing else afterward. There were other planets with societies more interesting to the archeologists and anthropologists, so after a time of not finding anything truly “earth shaking”, Greer had moved his main team to another planet. There was some exploration completed on this side of the world, but mostly with lower level anthropologists and archeologists. The big names soon left for richer fields of study.

She hadn’t, as of yet, found any evidence as to the age of the columns, but her mind, somehow, wanted to believe that everything here was beyond age – somehow ageless. Everything just seemed ... too perfect. With the instruments she had with her today, she would be attempting more exacting measurements of the columns, and she also wanted to determine the depth of the ice beneath them, and, if possible, the exact dimensions of the column area and its purpose, if there was one. By the minute, she was beginning to more firmly believe the latter. But she kept telling herself to use the scientific method and not jump to conclusions unbacked by hard science.

She had stopped to examine a smaller column, and becoming frustrated with her crossbow being in the way, she had swung it around to her back. Morales came over and tapped the crossbow. “Jas, please keep your crossbow where you can quickly bring it to bear if need be.”

She almost snapped at him for interfering, but had second thoughts at the last instant. Her next impulse was to tease him about being paranoid, but she was becoming more and more infatuated with this strange man, and didn’t want to hurt his feelings. With a glance at his serious expression, she forced a smile, took another look at his face and also decided to forego the teasing for now. Without grumbling, she moved the crossbow, supported by its lanyard, back in front of her – in the way.

“I still think you’re wrong about there being something or someone in here with us, but...” she went quickly on before he could speak, “I respect your concern and I will be ready. Better safe than sorry as you so frequently remind me,” she finished with a smile, not that he seemed to notice, because his eyes were again locked in the distance.

She remembered slipping on the ice on their last trip and falling when she had hit her toe on the slightly raised place near one of the columns, but now that she thought about it, somehow, the ice didn’t feel as slick as ice normally should. When she stepped on the ice just to the side of the cave entrance, she had taken an impromptu ride down the hill, yet they had been walking along for a time now without either of them falling, or slipping very much, for that matter. With this much smooth ice, it shouldn’t be that easy to walk. Something else to put in my database, she thought. But like all my other readings, I have no follow-up reasons.